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Solar
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A 6
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Aurora 2
Updated 21:00 UTC HamQSL · N0NBH
Day 80/40m Poor 30/20m Poor 17/15m Poor 12/10m Poor
Night 80/40m Poor 30/20m Poor 17/15m Poor 12/10m Poor

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80m OCFD Construction - Tuning Results for 133' Total Length

Finally got my 80-10m off-center fed dipole built and up at 35 feet. Used 88' long leg and 44' short leg with a 4:1 current balun. SWR results are impressive - under 1.5:1 on 80, 40, 20, 17, 10 and 6 meters without tuner. 15m is around 1.7:1 which is acceptable, but 12m is off the charts requiring an ATU.

Built with #14 stranded THNN wire and ceramic end insulators. Anyone else seeing similar performance with the standard 133' OCFD formula, or should I consider shortening to 130' for better band coverage?

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  • Carlos Mendoza
    Carlos Mendoza

    I've been running an 80m OCFD at 70 feet on the ends for 3 years - earned DXCC on 8 bands including 15m with it. The trick is getting the height right and using a quality balun. What balun are you usi

  • John Patterson
    John Patterson

    Consider the OCF Masters approach with center loading capacitors to selectively raise lower band resonances while keeping high band coverage. This could solve your 12m issue without compromising other

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I've been running an 80m OCFD at 70 feet on the ends for 3 years - earned DXCC on 8 bands including 15m with it. The trick is getting the height right and using a quality balun. What balun are you using?

Your SWR of 1.8-2.0:1 on 80m is normal depending on surroundings and antenna height. Try trimming proportionally - if you cut 6 inches off the long leg, only cut 3 inches off the short leg to maintain the proper ratio.

Consider the OCF Masters approach with center loading capacitors to selectively raise lower band resonances while keeping high band coverage. This could solve your 12m issue without compromising other bands.

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